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Huh. That's a rather large and demanding animation task. Or a long and technically difficult mocap session. I assume they will be using some more-or-less-generally-accepted "standard" aikido such as what doshu demonstrates?

Huh. That's a rather large and demanding animation task. Or a long and technically difficult mocap session. I assume they will be using some more-or-less-generally-accepted "standard" aikido such as what doshu demonstrates?

Maybe they use the same technique that's been used for NFL broadcasts. Multiple cameras record the action from several angles and the computers figure out how to generate the correct image for a given point of view. No animation or motion sensors needed.

From the description , it definitively had to be based on a 3D engine of some kind (because of the choice to rotate , zoom and pan) so i guess they must be using a motion capture system to produce the skeletals animations.

That would provide some interesting options like isolating certain movements , or maybe pick from a choice of actors the ones you want to see performing the techs?

I would love to see some weapons katas on this software too , a lots of nice things could be achieved certainly , good luck for those people.

Sadly the page doesnt host a lot of info , some videos and a demo as Ron suggested would be nice!

Huh. That's a rather large and demanding animation task. Or a long and technically difficult mocap session. I assume they will be using some more-or-less-generally-accepted "standard" aikido such as what doshu demonstrates?

To answer some of these questions.

I got to talk with the head of the project.

The animation was first done with a few weeks of motion capture. However some of the more complicated animation (fingers for example) were done frame by frame.

The animation package used was Maya (4.5 ?)
The animation was then exprted into a format read by an engine that was built in shockwave 3d.

From what the guy said, all you would need to run it is an 8 meg open GL video card, so it should be available to the majority of the computer community.

I asked him what the price range is and he said anywhere from 40 - 50$. (about the price of a video game when first released)

I also brought up the idea of having other arts in it. He said they were thinking about releasing an expansion that also had sword kata.

I saw it at the USAF-East summer camp. They had Donovan Waite Shihan and, I think, one of the NY Aikikai deshi put on motion capture suits. They performed the techniques and the suits allowed their motions to be inputed into 3D software.

The resulting virtual uke moves like Donovan. The style is fairly standard Aikikai.

The software allows you to speed up, slow down, zoom in and view from any angle the basic techniques of Aikido. It's supposed to be a sort of textbook to supplement, not replace, training in the dojo.

The optional spiral attached to the virtual nage's center is a bit dorky.

The virtual Donovan has a removable hakama, so you can see the footwork. At the premiere, it was suggested, by someone who will remain nameless and who is not necessarily me, that the authors might be able to make more money if the hakama removal option was expanded to other items of clothing.

I found a nice little training aid. Check out www.Aikido3d.com. It uses motion capture technology so that you can watch a technique as slow or fast as you would like. You also get to modify the angles you see it from. Very useful for kyu ranks because you can view all the 5th thru 1st kyu requirements. It features the aikido of Donovan Waite Shihan. I feel it is worth a look, especially for those who may be taking a kyu test.

I found a nice little training aid. Check out www.Aikido3d.com. It uses motion capture technology so that you can watch a technique as slow or fast as you would like. You also get to modify the angles you see it from. Very useful for kyu ranks because you can view all the 5th thru 1st kyu requirements. It features the aikido of Donovan Waite Shihan. I feel it is worth a look, especially for those who may be taking a kyu test.

I just checked out the site. The animation looks good. Maybe they should post the url on CGTalk. I have done a bit of 3D modelling and animation with LightWave and Maya and have always wanted to do something like this as a challenge.

The first link is more "review oriented" and the second is more about the use of motion capture.

There were some pretty good honest reviews on Aikido-L, but I don't know the links for those. I haven't bought it yet, but I'm sure I'll be please as I'm rather partial to Donovan Waite and the association he's a member of. I don't remember people mentioned exact hand placement as you can't control the exact angles you view the technique from.

Anne Marie GiriWomen in Aikido: a place where us gals can come together and chat about aikido.